


Never Been Kissed

by crumpledpapersoul



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crumpledpapersoul/pseuds/crumpledpapersoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Athena overhears and argument between Zeus and Hera, she is immediately drawn to comfort the other woman. This, along with their history, leads to very odd feelings Athena isn't used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Been Kissed

Athena was exhausted. She had been studying architecture all day and had been up all night the night before thinking of what she had seen in the hallway. It wasn’t that she cared about Hera or anything but just the way Zeus treated her seemed wrong but it had all been hypothetical until yesterday. Athena had gone to study the architecture of one of the Olympian temples to offer up some options for her own temple being built in Athens when she had heard the yelling . She had ducked behind a pillar before anyone could see her and carefully listened to the strained voices coming from inside the deserted offering’s hall   
“You fucking Bitch!”   
She heard someone yell   
“Every fucking time you chase my women away! First it was Io and now Semele too! What the hell is wrong with you? You know that I am the most powerful god and still you think it smart to smite my consorts with your unfathomable rage. Why cant you simply control yourself?”   
Athena knew from the names the speaker was Zeus and she could guess who else was in the room. Hera. Hera was powerful, beautiful, and amazingly intelligent, second only to herself in Athena’s opinion but had always been reliant on Zeus for her standings. Goddess of women, but more importantly Queen of the Gods, Hera’s position gave her much more power than her domain, probably because women were seen mostly as a plague to the lands.   
“You know why I rage”  
Hera spit out. Athena could only imagine the woman glaring at her father.  
“You walking around with all these other women as if I don’t know make me look like a fool. We are married. We tell these mortals to be chaste and loyal and yet you go around impregnating every woman under Helios’ rays! How dare you accuse me of being irrational when you are a hypocritical king and ruler!”   
Athena was taken back by the goddess’s directness knowing immediately that it would have a price. No one, not even his queen, insulted Zeus without a price.   
“Woman you will pay for those things born of your silver tongue. Just you wait. Tomorrow when the sun rises one of your favorite cities will be left in ruins along with all those who praise you. Then you will know to stop meddling in my affairs!”  
With that he stormed out, missing Athena as he was obviously consumed by the rage his wife had instilled in him. Athena kept quiet, waiting for Hera to also depart but she didn’t. Instead, Athena heard soft gasps coming from inside the sacred buildings. Afraid the queen had been injured in some way, Athena, against her better judgment, rushed into the room. She was surprised when she saw Hera, crumpled up on the stairs, quietly sobbing into her hands. Athena had no practice in these things, she was not the goddess of the heart nor did she know anything of marriage or love, but she felt as though it was wrong and against her immortal soul’s better judgment to leave Hera on the stairs. She gently glided over to where the goddess wads sitting and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, making just enough noise to alert Hera of her presence so that her touch would not be a surprise. To her astonishment, Hera didn’t move nor turn her way. She let Athena sit there for many minutes, hand on her shoulder, before finally looking her way with reddened eyes.   
“What do you want, my husband’s daughter?”   
This statement struck Athena with certain hardness. She was the result of one of Zeus’s many flings. A reminder of the fight Hera had just had with her Lord and husband. An ill mark on her otherwise perfect marriage.  
“I’m sorry”   
She said, quietly rethinking her position,   
“I should leave you in peace. I simply wanted to assure that you were not physically harmed”.   
Hera seemed to take this as the truth. It definitely would have been the most rational reason for Athena’s being there, and being the goddess of strategy, this should have been her reasoning, but deep down Hera knew she was there for a different reason. The same reason she had accompanied Hera into the battle of Troy, and the same reason she had stood, mouth agape at her dancing in a flowing flowery dress at one of Dionysus’s festivals. Athena quickly brushed these ideas from her mind before they could bee seen by Hera’s lingering gaze.   
“Ah, yes, I suppose I am fine. I have been dealing with Zeus for centuries and will for centuries to come. Our arguing is nothing new”   
As she spoke, she readjusted so that her back was now to the alter where the sacrifices were made. Athena’s hand left her shoulder as not to be trapped against the cold marble, but she immediately hated how cold her own skin felt after being removed from the other goddesses.   
“Of course”   
Athena answered. Tersely nodding her head before gathering her robes to stand. As she did hera spoke,   
“ You know out of all of his many consorts, you were the only decent thing to come of them. You are the only one I don’t truly despise”.   
Athena stopped. She knew this was a close to a compliment as she would ever get from the queen and so she sat back down, taking it as an invitation from the goddess to stay. “I am glad you don’t hate me”   
she said.   
“ And I know I am his daughter by blood, but I don’t really feel as though I am. I was born a woman. He did not raise me, rather hated me after my conception. Her only dotes on me now because I can best Ares.”   
Hera’s mouth twinged with a small sad smile   
“Almost any god can beat Ares my dear”   
she said.   
“But yes, he is no real father to you. Although I have noticed you know how to play this lineage to your advantage, a smart tactic, useful in the least”  
Athena nodded gravely.   
“Yes, it is needed for me to get anything though. Zeus doesn’t view women in a high enough regard to give me anything unless I remind him we are related by blood.”   
Hera gave another knowing smile,   
“Yes, he is fickled.”   
Athena knew she should have left then. Should never have pressed further, but her curiosity took her soul, or maybe it was something more, and so her lips parted as she asked   
“ Why Hera do you stay with him? He treats you so terribly and you could have any earthly consort you wanted. Why not ignore him?”  
At this, Hera looked startled. Color flooded to her cheeks and her eyes had a small coat of mist that seemed to cover them as her mouth opened.   
“I can’t leave him. He commands me and would hurt anyone I loved enough to be with outside of him. It would damage his pride and his all to fragile ego.”   
She quickly turned away, but Athena knew tears streamed down her face and dripped of her pearly skin. Athena was about to apologize, when Hera spoke again, this time in a low, almost timid voice, one Athena had never heard before.   
“I wish I could love someone else”   
she whispered, her breath louder than the words themselves   
“I have never even shared a kiss outside of his, but even those have no meaning outside of formality. When we make love it is either to create new life or to distract him from destroying something dear to me. Even now, after Hephaestus was born, he no longer can stand to lie with me. It is almost a relief.”  
Hera’s shoulder sagged as she let this part of her out into the open air. Never had she told another soul this, mortal or immortal, but Athena just listened. Her large grey eyes filled with sympathy and understanding. Hera looked away, suddenly ashamed for letting this part of her out into the open, For letting the other goddess see her weak and vulnerable.   
“I have never kissed anyone either”   
she suddenly heard. Athena had spoken softly but with sweetness in her voice that radiated feelings louder than any words ever could. Never had Athena been loved. Not by a mother or father, sister or brother, lover or enemy. Her life had been empty of this emotion, filled instead with the jealousy and backstabbing that filled the courtrooms of Olympus. Hera, in an almost school girl like falsetto sang,   
“Well you aren’t missing much”.   
Both goddesses laughed for the first time in a while, and around them the sound of their joy echoed off the marble temple and into the outside, putting even the songbirds to shame. Eventually, when they had had their fill of laughter they both settled down. Staring at their hands properly placed in their laps. It wasn’t until Athena looked up she realized Hera had been looking at her now for a long while. Studying her face. Tracing every crack and crevice and twist of dark brown hair that fell down her shoulders. Athena blushed and turned away as did Hera. This was ridiculous, Athena though to herself. They were grown women. Not school children. Why was she so consumed with thoughts of Hera? Why were they acting like this? But instead of standing up and leaving things as they were like she should have the two other times before she stayed sitting where she was and said softly   
“Maybe we should practice”.   
Hera looked at her confused, thinking but not quite registering what Athena was saying. “Practice what Athena?”   
Immediately Athena regretted speaking. Heat flooded her cheeks and she quickly stood, her robes of dark purple swirling around her.   
“Nothing, forget I said anything. I must go. I’m sorry if I bothered you.”   
She quickly took off without saying another word. Not looking back, and not stopping until she was out of the temple where she took a sharp left into the gardens that Persephone tended to when she wasn’t away with her dark lover. There she walked slowly to stop her stirring heart.   
“Practice”   
she said out loud to herself. Cursing her arrogance and stupidity. For the goddess of strategy, she certainly had none for dealing with whatever emotions were currently plaguing her heart. What the hell was this? Why did she feel this way? Hera was Zeus’s wife and for some reason this made her angry. She wanted to don her armor and go after him, cutting his genitals from his body as she did with the rest of her enemies. Why did she feel like this? The first time she had ever felt this way about Hera she had dismissed it as friendship, but that was what she felt for Artemis and Aphrodite. No. This was different. This chewed away at her insides and made her want to claw out her mind. This was a heated obsession that controlled her and set her world of kilter. This was a caring so deep and central to her being that she no longer cared about what was strategic; she only cared about what was good for Hera. This was dangerous. She was consumed with her own thoughts, battling her own passion and rationality so forcefully she did not her the soft steps that were approaching her from the other side of the garden. Did not notice the sweet sent of milk and honey the breeze carried past her nose. She didn’t notice anything until a hand brushed her waist, and she immediately reacted with the speed and stealth of the warrior she was. Rage in her mind, turned to rage at her hand and she took the stranger by the wrist before turning around placing her hand at the back of their neck, ready to bring it crashing down onto her knee before she stopped. It was Hera. The goddess looked surprised yet quite amused at Athena’s flushed features and clouded eyes. She gave a short laugh and before Athena was given a chance to apologize, took her hand out of Athena’s now loosened grip, slid it around her waist and pulled her into herself. Their mouths brushed in a kiss barely long enough to even be called such before Hera pulled herself away and stared into the other goddesses eyes making sure that his was what she wanted as well. She was granted with a brilliant smile and small nod before Athena’s hand at the back of her neck pulled her into a kiss so passionate that she was surprised her heart didn’t explode. Soft lips caressed each other, as hands held bodies close, protecting, ensuring that each knew the other was safe, happy, and along for the ride. Tongues met and sparks flew and all sounds of the birds and turmoil of the mortal world below faded away as the two goddesses, never loved by any, found peace and love in each other. Slowly they parted. Hesitant and breathtaking they stood. Foreheads together. Breathing in the moment, the feelings, and the beauty. It was Hera who moved first placing a soft kiss on Athena’s head before slowly pulling herself out of the embrace. “I think I quite like practicing”   
Athena said. Still catching her breath. Hera smiled.   
“I can see that”.  
Athena giggled and was about to pull Hera into her all over again, to feel relief from the burning that had been eating her alive, but then a booming voice echoed from the main living areas.   
“Hera! Woman where are you?! Come here we have business!”   
Zeus’s voice carried to the garden. Destroying the piece. Destroying the moment. Crushing Athena in a wave of panic and anger. Hera, sensing the other goddess’s displeasure, quickly took her hand.   
“I will see you soon”   
she said sadly, but quickly brightened her voice for the sake of the other   
“No practicing without me!”   
With that, Hear left leaving a confused but unnaturally happy Athena behind her to ponder her thoughts and wonder at how she would ever find a way to be happy with the wife of the king of the gods.


End file.
